Don’t drop the ball, Holy Cross!

Imagine the DCU center filled to the rafters, and local restaurants and bars crowded and buzzing with excitement.

Imagine it if you can. It isn’t hard — so many Holy Cross alums feeling high, and no Father John Brooks to stop them.

Imagine all the people streaming downtown to watch Holy Cross play Georgetown.

Wow!

I’m talking, of course, about news that the seven Catholic schools in the Big East basketball conference of the NCAA have agreed to break away to form their own league.

One possibility is that the seven schools — Georgetown, Villanova, St. John’s, DePaul, Marquette, Seton Hall, and Providence — will join other Catholic institutions, such as Gonzaga (Washington) and St. Mary’s College (California) in a national super Catholic basketball conference.

Imagine if Holy Cross could become part of this potential new conference. Imagine the impact it would have on the city. City Councilors Konnie Lukes, George Russell and Tony Economou couldn’t. But they knew nothing of the history of Holy Cross basketball and its importance to the city.

City Councilor Phil Palmieri, who is familiar and consumed with the past, the present and possibilities of Holy Cross basketball could, however.

“I can only dream that this could happen,” he said. “I would love to see it. It would be fantasyland. It would be wonderful.”

If Mr. Palmieri is a dreamer, he is not the only one.

“I saw this coming a year ago, when I made it clear that if Holy Cross were to try and join a major basketball conference, the City Council would be willing and ready to help them in any way possible,” City Councilor Rick Rushton said.

Presciently, Mr. Rushton noted, he had seen the possibility of this super Catholic conference because of what he said was the great upheaval in college sports as an increasing number of schools, chasing millions in football revenues, were changing conferences at the drop of a hat.

And of course, outside of the three aforementioned councilors, it is hard to imagine any Worcester sports fan of a certain age who doesn’t appreciate the tantalizing chance at redemption that a possible major Catholic basketball conference presents to this city.

When the Big East Conference was formed in the late 1970s, Holy Cross, then a powerhouse basketball program, was invited to join. The late Father Brooks, then president of the College, declined the offer.

He and others felt the college would not be financially able to compete in such a major conference. He was also worried that trying to compete athletically in the new conference could erode the academic standards at Holy Cross.

Perhaps those reasons might still present a roadblock to Holy Cross now joining a potential national Catholic league, but City Councilor Mike Germain, an Holy Cross alum and hockey star, believes the idea is worth pursuing.

Last year, Mr. Germain energetically backed a bid to make Holy Cross a member of the successful Hockey East league. The failure of that bid was the “biggest miss” in Worcester sports history, Mr. Germain said.

Those who would have loved to see Holy Cross join the Big East in 1979 would probably disagree.

“Anyone born and raised in the city during those years (when Holy Cross was a powerhouse basketball program) knows how much a competitive Holy Cross program means to this city,” Mr. Rushton said. “We are willing to work with Holy Cross, the DCU Center and other community organizations to make this happen.”

I didn’t speak to any Holy Cross officials for this piece, but last year Ellen Ryder, a spokeswoman for the college, said they were always open to having “conversations with the city.”